Enough with the hype about underwhelming or speculative cancer treatments

The past two weeks have been especially eventful for overblown promises about cancer treatments, with a number of viral headlines touting supposed breakthroughs and miracle cures. A New Path to Preventing Cancer The byline “A Landmark Study Showing the Way Forward” sets up for the inevitable letdown upon reading further. Towards the end, the author adds the caveat, “Now this, of course, is retrospective. We don’t yet have a clinical trial to prove that lung cancer can be reduced by 50% with the 14-protein biomarkers and the antibody treatment. That is the next step along the way.” So in other words a coin toss optimistically. The biggest problem is lung cancer develops fast and is rapidly lethal. Even if a high risk cohort were identified, it would require constant screening to possibly prevent the cancer from sneaking up . And then lots of false positives and false negatives– from both the unnecessary screening of cancer and the biomarker missing cancers. Just a big “meh”. Biomarkers…